


there are many ways a man can serve his time

by velificatio



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Body Horror, Gen, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 11:34:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5664637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velificatio/pseuds/velificatio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It kept Yusuf awake nights on end- more than the pounding pressure in his head, the desperate scavenging in every area of his mind for just that right chemical combination to deliver a miracle- their voices, laced with the distinctive rasp of death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there are many ways a man can serve his time

Tokyo General Hospital had roughly 800 patient rooms located in the sprawling facility and all of them were equipped with a hidden surveillance camera. It was part liability, back when that sort of issue mattered. Now, five years into The Rising, with Saito wanting to ration as much electricity as they could, only the cameras located in the quarantine department were regularly operating. 

Yusuf divided much of his time in the makeshift chemistry lab and the surveillance room, watching the seven subjects they’d gathered. 

_ Barbie Brigade _ was what the others- the humans, called the subjects they’d assembled who demonstrated a newer, advanced form of whatever virus had started this pandemonium in the first place. It was a hollow, morbid shoutout to the various modifications these not quite human and not quite zombie individuals had been subjected to throughout their time in the hospital. Stitch work, their resident mortician Ntobi Nuru referred to it as. 

They weren’t the mindless, moaning ghouls they’d termed “ _ first wave _ ” zombies. So long as their brains were intact they could function fully, intelligently, as they had when they’d been alive. Even if their head became detached from the rest of their bodies.  And they lacked the trademark instinctive appetite for human flesh the first wave of zombies had in excess. In fact, they didn’t need to eat anything. 

.He’d been sitting in the surveillance room for hours perhaps, watching the subjects prepare themselves to go on a scouting mission. Eating from a cold half empty can of beef, corn and peas, hardly giving thought to the flavor. One got used to that sort of thing. 

Subject 7 had gotten their torso replaced with a female ones recently, after their original was disemboweled by a hunting knife. It was done out of necessity, the morgue could only hold so many body parts and not all of were in the early state of decomposition. Yusuf had been there when Ntobi decapitated Subject 7 and sewed his head and neck onto the new torso, then attached it to their original pelvis.  The entire time 7 was talking lazily about having to learn to adjust to the additional weight on his chest. 

Yusuf didn’t remember eating that night, but he must have to be left with a half empty can. 

He turned as the door opened, unsure if he was happy to see Saito walk in or not. Self-awareness was a trait Yusuf prided himself in having, yet he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what he felt being in Saito’s presence. It was a cloudy, muddled mess of emotions.

For one thing, he wouldn’t even have been in Japan if Saito hadn’t decided he’d pay for taking Cobb’s bribe by being in his service indefinitely. 

“The third unit of scouts is heading towards a retail store,” Saito said. He was dressed in a black turtleneck and dress pants. Which stood in sharp contrast to Yusuf’s frayed pants, rumpled long sleeved shirt and labcoat. “I noticed you never radioed in any requests.”

He had a quiet intensity to his eyes that made Yusuf sit up straighter in his chair without really thinking on it. Sighing, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. His muscles ached with fatigue and he knew there were dark circles under his eyes. “Well that’s because I don’t have any requests.  I’m well stocked in rations and clothing.”

Saito moved closer to the monitors, reaching out to turn on the surveillance cameras outside the parking lot. Yusuf watched his movements quietly, wondering to himself how this man managed to still move with such poise and confidence, as though there were no hurdle he could not overcome.

“They will also be collecting a new first and second wave subject.” Saito said, his eyes still on the monitors. “Mao has told me she needs to take tissue samples from a brain of each.”

He frowned, he hadn’t heard about this.“And after that?”

“We already have seven second wave subjects among us, integrated into this hospital. I will have Arthur put the ones we capture down after Mao has finished taking her samples.” 

“You’re using the ones we have already like recyclables,” Yusuf laughed as he shook his head. Voicing the reality of the situation just made it more difficult to keep his objective distance. His throat was dry. “Do they know what they are now? Toy soldiers as well as lab mice?”

He watched them from the monitor, their humvees and armored vehicles venturing out of the parking lot. In the front was a convertible with the top down and Subject 13 standing with his trademark plague mask on, an assault rifle slung around his hip. 

( _ Not  _ Subject 13-  **Arthur** , he was still Arthur, even if he didn’t have all of Arthur’s original body parts)

Saito tilted his head. “ _ We’re _ using them Yusuf. You're a willing party here as well. We both know they’re our best chance of developing a cure. And we know that when the first wave walkers come into contact with them they freeze and passively allow themselves to be destroyed.” His eyes narrowed. “It bothers you now, to use someone to achieve a substantial gain?”

The Fischer job was nearly a decade in the past, yet still Yusuf’s betrayal apparently defined him to Saito. “Piss off,” He said, rubbing between his eyes. “That was a long time ago. I don’t still see you as just a scheming corporate billionaire.”

“I’ve changed,” Saito folded his arms, his posture still irritably at ease. “Part of me remains the same, but I’ve adapted to this new world and with it my goals have shifted.”

“Right. Well you should consider that you’re probably not the only person who's undergone a metamorphosis.” 

“Have you now?” There was that unnerving clarity in Saito’s voice, and his eyes as he neared. Yusuf felt like he was being laid out like a building blueprint before him and nook and detail down to his foundation was in plain sight. “Why do you want to find a cure for this disease Yusuf? Is it because you want to save the rest of the living from becoming the undead? Or do you want to know this disease as well as you know your blend of somnacin, to study and deconstruct it? To master it?”

He put his hand on Yusuf’s shoulder. Its weight felt heavier than it should be. Even so Yusuf didn’t move away from the touch.

“You should get some rest,” Saito went on when he said nothing.

Yusuf shrugged, the movement tellingly sluggish. This room was pretty much his bedroom and sleep wasn’t something he had time for. He stared at one monitor which was malfunctioning, watching the image distort further and further until it became static. 

 

+

 

Saito had been an in-patient at Tokyo General Hospital, recuperating from an upper respiratory chest infection when news of The Rising began to spread across news stations at a local and soon global scale. It had quickly turned to pandemonium  at the facility, with mass amounts of patients attempting to flee and family members arriving to collect their loved ones. But he, with his personal security of twenty-five men on the premises, found himself waiting, assessing the situation, and planning on how to adapt to it. 

He dispatched ten of them to retrieve his family. They returned with only his wife, sister, and his two nephews. There was little time for Saito to pause, to mourn the loss of his two sons. He had no choice but to move forward, or else lose himself and all he had left. 

In a matter of days the Japanese military and naval forces had become spread thin throughout various cities and islands that were plunging into anarchy. Then the power went out on a massive scale, towns and cities plunged into darkness.  The hospital was one of the few places still functioning on electricity. 

Dr. Ito Akira  had been the Administrator of Tokyo General Hospital, and a man with whom Saito had a long history. Indeed his appointment to his current occupation had been instrumented by Saito’s work within the ninkyō dantai. He had a foresight Saito appreciated. It came as no surprise to him to learn that Ito was sending the hospital security back to the police stations to collect and stockpile weapons. 

What did surprise him was Ito promptly using one of those weapons to end his own life. In the boardroom he’d sat in and witnessed the suicide, a house of cards was on the brink of collapse. Until he rose from his chair and stabilized it by announcing himself as Ito’s successor.  

First and foremost they needed to clear the basement and lower level departments of the zombies the staff had managed to blockade. Then, they purged the hospital of all those Saito deemed too detrimental to the long term functionality of the complex. Comatose patients, terminally ill patients, advanced cancer patients and...the remaining infants whose mothers were not currently in the hospital. Thankfully, those had been the largest patients vacated in the early days of the the pandemic. 

These were decisions he had not made lightly. And on some nights they did not sit with him lightly either. But Saito was a selfish man, a goal-oriented man. He wanted to find a cure for this pandemic, and he could not afford to protect everyone in order to do that. There were casualties, yes, but they were necessary ones. 

“We’re going to need to ration our food supply for the remainder of the month.” His younger sister Kaori sat in her black t-shirt and fatigue pants across from his desk. She was the individual in charge of their scouting parties. Standing beside her was the head of Saito’s private security, as well as the hospital security, Hamasaki Kenta . “Retail stores are barren by now and Fujioka is attempting to expand his neighborhood territories.”

“How close is he to being within our district?”

“Still miles away.” Kaori held up her hand to silence his remark. “The walkers also appear to be concentrating their herds closer to his neighborhoods. His days may very well be numbered.”

Years ago Fujioka Masaru  had been Saito’s subordinate officer in their ninkyō dantai. Now he was a veritable warlord who had a group of fellow underlings and many families under his control. He was the biggest makeshift governing presence in Tokyo next to Saito, and as such their largest threat. 

“Were you able to establish contact with Oshiro Momoka ?” She was critical ally to have, as her group had gained control of the cities gas stations, in addition to siphoning fuel from the many abandoned vehicles in Tokyo. 

Kaori smiled, sharp as usual. “Yes, she gave us her regards and congratulations on our foresight in hoarding the cities medical supplies and police arms.” She reached back to adjust the tie keeping her hair back in place. “She says that, in exchange for some provisions she will vouch for us to the Fishermen Fleet. Winter will be here shortly. I say for now we give her bandages and some antibiotics to use in case of influenza. But not as much as we could.” 

Once Kaori had served on the same board as Saito in Proclus. His company was family run but she had not gained her entrance through blood alone. She was a shrewd and calculating as Saito was.

“Yes,” Saito agreed. “We’ll need to gather more food from the Fishermen Fleet midway through December. They won’t have any medical provisions, but they’ll see that Oshiro does.”

“So we’ll be able to bargain with them directly,” Kaori nodded. “Without also having to make a bargain with Oshiro.”

“Meanwhile, Fujioka will likely attempt to attack Oshiro’s territory for her antibiotics.” He looked at Kenta. “And afterwards, Kaori will propose an alliance between our two forces.”

Kenta’s brow rose as he considered this plan. “With the Brigade able to make the walkers passive they could gather a herd large enough to overpower Fujioka’s experienced forces.”

“Yes, and once they’re in those neighborhoods the Brigade will barrel out doors and windows.”

Kaori turned to Kenta. “We let the walkers have their fill, force out Fujioka and kill him. They should take care of enough of his people. Then we move in, have the Brigade freeze the walkers and kill them.”

“We’ve waited long enough.” Saito continued. “Fujioka’s populace must have decreased significantly now that they’re reduced to using weapons other than guns. I will give them the option to join us in this hospital or be left to their own devices.”

“After that,” Kaori’s smile widened, “We can finish purging Tokyo of  its remaining first wave walkers, with the aid of Oshiro’s forces.” 

Saito sat back in his chair, his expression subdued but not for lack of anticipation. Having a much wider range of access to all the resources Tokyo provided would bolster their efforts to establish contact with the world outside their city. Hope could be a dangerous emotion, for he knew that new challenges and dangers would arise from doing such. 

He was prepared to face them. Right now they stood on the precipice of carving out the path to a new world. Was that road ever smooth and without its hurdles?

 

+

 

Yusuf was not alone in his mission to cure the zombie pandemic. Far from it, although when you’re married to a man in a position of considerable power you got far more protection than an old acquaintance.  

Mao Saito was a well respected microbiologist in the field of virology before The Rising. To what remained of civilization in Tokyo, and even to most of those within the hospital, she’d died shortly after the walkers emerged. In reality she was working hand in hand with Yusuf and, had been the one who identified the cause of the The Rising to be a virus inhabiting the walker’s brains, rather than a bacteria or radiation effect. That first, mammoth breakthrough had happened two years ago. 

It hadn’t struck Yusuf until recently that he probably saw her more than Saito himself. 

She was in their lab, as usual in her white coat and a dark knee-length dress, looking through an electron microscope when he came in. Most of the equipment in here had been poached from research labs. The thermocycler, ELISA plate reader, a high speed centrifuge, and numerous equipment that came with the cost of human lives. 

“What’s this I hear about needing tissue samples from a first and second wave walker?” He asked as he stepped into the room.

“I’ve a hypothesis.” Mao stood with her arms stock still at her sides. Body language wasn’t something she utilized often. And that just made it harder to read her. Even more so than Saito. “What if the virus is already inside of us? Say a mutation of a dormant virus we’d contract when we experience a common ailment.”

Yusuf scratched at his beard, thinking on it. “Such as the shingles virus, after you’ve gotten chickenpox?”

“Precisely.”

Of course, now the fact that no one in this hospital was comatose was coming back to haunt them. In the morgue they didn’t store the heads of  people they’d lost during scouting missions, if brought back any parts of their bodies at all. “We’d need to take tissue samples from a human’s brain to test your theory.”

“I’m aware of that Dr. Bousaid,” Mao gave him a reproachful look. “Which is why I’ve been searching through multiple bioinformatic and virus-related databases to find additional evidence to bolster my theory. Come here.”

She walked towards the open laptop on the room's far side. 

“It's fortunate we had the foresight to build a technology like the internet to outlast even the collapse of civilization.” Yusuf mused, following her.

“Parts of it at least.” Mao said. Which was true, the scattering loss of electricity throughout parts of the world meant they didn’t have access to every corner of the world wide web. They made due with what they had. “I’ve been looking for virus attachments similar to ours and I found this.”

She pulled up a photo showing a viral envelope of an influenza A virus. “Virions of every influenza type A viruses are all made up of a viral envelope that contains the proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase wrapped around its central core.” She circled the central core with the tip of her pen for emphasis. “We then divide these viruses into subtypes based on which type of these proteins are on the surface of the viral envelope.”

Yusuf nodded. “There’s only sixteen known subtypes of hemagglutinin and nine subtypes of neuraminidase known. And out of those only H one, two and three and N one and two are commonly found in humans.”

“Well, if I’m right about this,” Mao’s lips were drawn tight. “We’re looking at a mutated strain of influenza A virus H5N1.”

Yusuf froze. He knew of that particular strain well, the global pandemic it caused in the early 2000’s. Affecting humans and animals alike, it had taken the life of his oldest brother, who had been living in Southeast Asia at the time. Researchers had found that a strain of H5N1 which could possibly be passed through airborne transmission was possible. 

“Do you think,” Yusuf asked, staring at the monitor, “This was some kind of dormant pandemic?”

“I do,” Mao folded her arms. “I think this mutated strain initially arose from cases of H5N1, and judging by the number of walkers we first saw on the news, I think it was spread airborne. My guess is that the virus remained inactive inside nerve cells, particularly those located within the brain.”

“So something must have triggered it to become active.” Yusuf’s mind was whirling with possible factors. “If you’re right and this virus is only activated after death, or from a walker bite, then either this was triggered by something that occurred biologically during the process of decomposition-”

“And,” Mao cut him off. “An outside factor which affects the process of decomposition. Like climate. Think about it. None of the walkers we’ve seen were at the stage of advanced decay.”

Immediately he saw where she was going with this. “You think global warming started The Rising.”

“Right now it’s just a strong theory I need to test.” Mao said. “I’ll need brain tissue samples from a first and second wave walker-”

“And a human.” Yusuf pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m sure Saito will have no problem getting you all three.” 

How people within the hospital might react to capturing a human for test studies was another matter entirely. Then again, fear was a major motivation towards complacency. Fear and respect, and Saito generated both those emotions in spades. 

At the most, those who were aware would be grateful none of them had been chosen and well, if it was for the better purpose of them all, what was one life held against that?

 

+

 

Arthur had arrived in Tokyo one year into The Rising, accompanied only by Phillipa and James Cobb. As Saito was told, Dominick Cobb had passed in France, along with Professor Miles. It wasn’t until earlier this year that he’d been bitten by a second wave walker they were attempting to put in the quarantine department that he was turned. 

Saito stood in the emergency department with Dr. Honda Kogsi , nurses Maki Atsuko , Kato Gorou, Nishimura Naoki  and various members of his security, Kenta at their front. Through the window he watched one of their ambulances dock along with their other vehicles used for scouting missions. 

The first people to enter were Saito’s nephew Tsubasa, Haru and Arthur, pushing a stretcher with the walker Mao had requested strapped down to it. They were missing both their arms. Saito was more focused on Haru’s left arm, or the lack of it, as only his bicep remained, with a cracked bone protruding from the veiny skin. Being a second wave walker, Haru had informed him he no longer felt pain. Indeed, he was more invested in removing his plague mask with his right hand.

“That son of a bitch wasn’t easy to strap down,” Haru glared at the corpse on the stretcher before smirking wryly at Saito. “I better get the best arm in stock for this.”

“Technically it was a joint effort Haru,” Gianelle, another one of their subjects, nudged Haru’s shoulder as she pushed another stretcher carrying a first wave walker, its face muzzled. There was a large gash across her cheek. “But you did get the brunt of the damage.”

“Damn right I did.”

Saito signaled Arthur over to him. “ How did you all fare?”

“We had a skirmish with some second wave walkers a few miles from Tokyo Bay.” Arthur shrugged, scanning the room briefly. “No casualties  though, just a few people who’ll need a stitch job. There aren’t as many second wavers as we’d originally thought. Phillipa and James are in the maternity ward still?”

“Yes. Nurse Chou has them assisting with dispensing rations.” Saito considered him. “I need you present for the operations we’re going to perform on that both walkers. After that you are free to go to their rooms.”

Arthur shook his head. glancing at the stitching which connected his newest wrist to his left arm. As with all second wave walkers all of Arthur’s veins and arteries could be seen, due to the excessive pallor of his skin. “If they want to see me, they’ll ask for me. Showing up out of the blue would just upset them. Where is the operation being performed?”

“Come with me,” Saito lead him to the stairwells, leaving Kenta and Tsubasa to handle the dispensing and storage of their newest supplies, “It will be taking place in the neurology department. After it is completed, you’re to put the walker down.”

Arthur nodded, silent for a time. His mind perhaps, still on the matter of his two charges, who to Saito’s knowledge largely avoided his presence since he’d been turned. They were not the only ones but he understood their bond prior to this had been near familial.

“Give them time,” Saito found himself saying. “They are young and still struggling to come to grips with how this world has changed.”

Arthur gave a snort, unconvinced. “And spending all their time in the maternity ward finding new surrogate parents while I’m either in the quarantine department or out on scouts. I…” His voice became quieter then. “I understand but-”

“That does not make the reality easy to cope with,” They were just a few more flights from the neurology department. Saito stopped and Arthur followed his lead. He considered him again. Aside from his oversight on the Fischer job, Arthur had not failed Saito once in the time he had known him. That warranted a measure of reaching out Saito was typically quite discriminating with. “If you need-” He began only to be cut off by a frantic message over his handheld transceiver.

“Saito-sama,” It was Dr. Fujimoto Aya , the resident of the quarantine unit. “Subject 1 is having a psychotic episode and I need help restraining him!”

Saito frowned. Tsai Wu was one of the subjects Yusuf had recently administered a new anti-viral to.“Is Subject 7 in the department?” Issues such as these were not an uncommon issue with Tsai. It was one of the reasons he was utilized more for testing anti-virals than scouting missions. Usually Haru was the only person who could calm him.

“He is but Tsai will not settle into his bed and Haru hasn’t received a replacement arm yet.”

“I’ll call in my security.” Saito turned to Arthur, “You go onto the neurology department, they’ll be in the fifth room on the right.”

“Alright,” Arthur sprinted the rest of the way up the stairs while Saito backtracked two flights to the quarantine unit. 

He entered to the sound of screams, so distraught and panicked they did quicken his own heart as he strode towards Tsai’s room.  Before he’d even reached it he was quickly joined by security guards and Yusuf with a sedative in hand. 

Behind the observation glass Tsai was curled in a fetal position on the floor. His bony hands were held up in front of his face but Saito could see beyond them, that the skin of his left cheek had rotted and was peeling off. Haru was inside with him, scratches on his cheek and right forearm.

“Tsai,” He pled, reaching out to touch his hair but recoiling when the action drew another scream. “Please Tsai, come to bed, let me help you.”

“They’re trying to make them eat me!” Tsai wailed, pulling out handfuls of his own hair. “The worms, the flies-” His words dissolved into a fit of sobs and shaking.

Haru’s eyes were wet as he knelt before him. As he held onto his shoulder when the guards and Dr. Fujimoto entered the room. Then they were in Tsai’s hair, attempting to soothe him while he was being pinned down, threads of the black tresses coming out between his fingers. Tsai shook his head another high cry sounding when the sedative was injected into his neck. He convulsed before slumping onto the ground, his eyes rolled back.

With a trembling hand Haru closed Tsai’s eyes. “Be careful with him,” he barked at the guards who carried Tsai to his bed and fastened his wrists and ankles into the restraints. Then he turned to where Yusuf stood beside Saito, his gaze accusing. “Next time don’t try another anti-viral on him until you’ve tested it on someone else first.”

Saito sighed, turning to Yusuf. “Why don’t you see Dr. Nuru about getting a replacement arm for Mr. Kagome?” Haru would not be easy to settle, he was extremely protective of Tsai, their first second wave subject and perhaps the most fragile of the living and the undead in Saito’s mind. Having Yusuf here would only exasperate Haru’s anger.

Yusuf gave him a grateful look and began to start off before the paused mid-stride. “You know, you should consider taking Subject 1 off the testing rounds for a while.” He suggested, “He won’t be of much use if this continues.” Yusuf shrugged before continuing on his way.

In the observation room, Haru was  holding Tsai’s hand while Dr. Fujimoto cut away at the peeling skin on his cheek, covering it with a bandage. “I want to be here when you shave his head.” He insisted. “Don’t do it without me.”

Saito watched the movement of his thumb over Tsai’s hand. He knew their skin was cold, as their body no longer had the ability to regulate its temperature. The pen was cold in his hand as he took the inpatient clipboard off the room’s door. At the top of the paper he wrote in capitalized letters:

REMOVED FROM ANTI-VIRAL TESTING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. 

 

+

 

Ntobi Nuru had been an autopsy doctor before The Rising, hired by the hospital to head up their newly developed morgue department. It was in the basement level of the facility and thankfully, when the dead had first begun rising, she’d had the day off sick. Yusuf didn’t understand why she’d stayed in Tokyo, came back to the hospital in fact when the news broke instead of trying to catch a flight elsewhere like so many others had. 

But he liked her company, she still had an easygoing manner about her, while his own disposition had evaporated under the weight of his stress and disillusionment. Once Saito had come to be in charge of the hospital Ntobi had taken a book thick as two phone books and taught herself how to be a mortician. 

He took the stairs, since elevators weren’t to be used except in case of an emergency, to her department. Several of the lights in the basement had long since gone out but he was familiar with the labyrinthine like corridors.

Neither of their new occupations were considerably pleasant, but Yusuf could at least say the areas he frequented didn’t smell like death. 

“How do you stand it?” He asked when he entered the examination room. “You’ve stopped asking for scented candles on the scouting list…”

There were various body parts on the examining table, an arm, a torso and two hands. Ntobi had on her sterilizing gloves, and was injecting the torso with what Yusuf assumed to be embalming fluid before one of her assistants, Chiyo, took the corpse and placed it in a shelf holding other torsos of differing sizes. 

Ntobi didn’t look up at first, she shook her head, snorting. “We need matches for far more important things than trying to make this place smell like flowers.You have to get used to it.”

Her braided hair used to be stark white, but the dye job had long since faded back to black. It was an ironic reversal of the salt and pepper effect Yusuf’s hair had been easing into lately. “Easier said than done.”

She and Chiyo both shrugged. “You look terrible Yusuf.” Ntobi said. “Keep neglecting your sleep and you’re going to get mistaken for a walker one day.”

He ducked his head. Her tone may have been joking but there was an underlying sternness to it Yusuf felt pretty damn chastised hearing. “Ah you know me Ms. Nuru, too much on the mind to bother sleeping.”

“You’re mind isn’t going to be of any use once it's strung out from sleep deprivation.” Ntobi took off her gloves, stepping towards him. She touched his cheek. Yusuf stiffened at the contact. “I know what everyone is asking you to do is nearly improbable. But you’re the biggest hope most people have got left Yusuf. If you fall apart, they will too.”

His sigh came out before he could stop it. He moved away from her touch. This was exactly the crushing weight of responsibility that saw him running to the underground as a chemist in a past that seemed so far away it might as well have been fantasy. Now there was no escaping it, not anymore. Yusuf had always been a selfish man, even in his scientific pursuits. He did not experiment because he wanted to make the world a better place. He wanted to expand technology to its outermost limits. To do the impossible and was there no more impossible task than this? 

His mind was still invested, for years now, even as his heart remained at a standstill. Did he really care about all these people depending on him? About Saito? About Ntobi?

“Yeah,” He said, making sure he kept eye contact. “I understand.”

“No,” Ntobi’s voice hardened. “I’m not sure you do. I have a husband Yusuf, in Kenya perhaps, or wherever else he could have gone. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead or undead. I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again, but I do know that what I’m doing here in this department helps what you’re doing in your lab. I know that, even if he’s gone, I could help other people live or just rest in peace like they’re supposed to. And I know that you indulging in this counterproductive shit could make everything me and the others are trying to do be for nothing.”

He looked at her then, really looked at her. She was a good person, purely so, and those kind of people were in short supply in this new world. They didn’t last long but Ntobi had. Her calling his bullshit right now, it was easier to take than if it was coming from Saito. 

“Okay,” Yusuf nodded. “I’ll talk to Naoki about getting a sedative for a bit, to help me sleep.”He glanced over at the storage shelves. “Subject 7 lost their left arm during a scout today…”

“Haru Kagome?” Ntobi cut in, she glanced around the drawers. “I’m sure I can find a close enough fit for him, I’ll radio you once I’ve got one but until then you should keep him in the hyperbaric chamber to delay the decomposition process.” 

“Will do.” Yusuf said. He was quick in his retreat from the room and department. But its smell did not leave his memory until hours later. 

 

+

 

“Not exactly new territory for you, huh?” Haru snorted as he took off his shirt and hopped up on the autopsy table. 

Ntobi  rolled down the sleeves on her her shirt, a surgical mask on her face, but her laugh could be heard clearly. It was more strained than Haru’s. “Certainly not.”

Yusuf had on the same mask, though he wasn’t sure exactly why he’d come down for this procedure. By now it was all standard everyone in the room. Chiyo  would scan through the drawers of cadavers for a limb as close to Haru’s original measurements as possible, Ntobi would radio in to Yusuf and he’d in turn radio into Dr. Fujimoto to have him sent down to mortuary unit. 

“The torso job you did on me,” Haru traced over the stitches along his neck lower abdomen, just above his pelvis. “How does that rate on your scale?”

“In regards to cossetting?” Ntobi’s brow arched as she held Haru’s new arm up to his scapula. “You’re not even close to being my worst.”

Haru sat up straighter, rolling his other shoulder. “Well now you know I have to ask you about one of your worst.”

Chiyo smacked his knee. “Haru!”

“What?”

“2004 in Uganda,” Ntobi said without pause. “I cossetted a five year old boy who’d been dismembered by machetes. They’d even beheaded him.”

Yusuf leaned against the wall, watched Ntobi go through the motions of fusing the bones together before she brought her stitching needle in to puncture the discolored skin of Haru’s shoulder. 

“His mother wanted to bury him in the same white shirt he’d been baptized in.” Ntobi murmured. “So I sewed his head back onto his neck, glued his arms on. Used makeup to cover the stitching on his neck. Couldn’t cover the look in his eyes though, she wanted them open. I would have closed them.”

“I would have had him cremated.” Chiyo remarked quietly. “Poor child.”

“If you ask me, it should have always been done that way.” Haru shrugged when they turned their attention back to him. “I’d rather be turned to ash than left in the ground to rot in an expensive box.  And maybe if more people were in favor of cremation we wouldn’t have so many walkers roaming about now.” 

“Different cultures, different customs.” Yusuf finally spoke up. “No sense in dwelling on that now.”

“You sure about that?” Haru challenged. “I’ve thought about how my father is probably limping around in Australia as a walker. Sure, it suits the bastard but-”

Ntobi shook her head. “He should be in the ground, resting like they’re supposed to.” Chiyo nodded in agreement.

“What about you?” Haru asked Yusuf. “Miss your family?”

He shrugged. “I miss my cats.”

“Me too,” Chiyo said, “I had the cutest tabby my son used to…” She trailed off, staring at the floor.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Not something Yusuf was unused to these days. In a way everyone had lost something when The Rising came and afterwards.  And no one seemed to know quite how to talk about it. Yes it had crossed Yusuf’s mind how his older brothers had risen and were now among the living dead, his father and mother among them. But those were always factors he pushed back in his mind, they served no purpose to accomplish his current goals.  Think long enough on what you’ve lost and you’d drive yourself into the ground. They were hazardous thoughts. Distractions.

Chiyo wouldn’t last a week outside these hospital walls, but that could be said of most of the people who didn’t go on scouting missions. Strangely enough Yusuf felt like out of all of them, Saito would probably outlast them all outside of here. 

He’d like to think he’d be right behind him.

 

+

 

When Yusuf finally retired to his room it was with two sedatives in hand, courtesy of Nurse Naoki. What he noticed first was that he’d left the sound on the monitors. Haru, Gianelle and Tsai were in their quarantine chambers, all located beside one another, conversing. Or more, Gianelle and Haru were trying to get Tsai to speak.

“If there are still men out there fishing in Tokyo Bay and beyond, do you think in the countryside there are a group of militarized farmers still tending to the rice fields?” Gianelle asked, seated beside the wall. “I bet in South Cotabato, the pineapple farmers are still there.”

Haru shrugged. “Yeah it’s a nice image, people cleaning zombie gore of their tools before they use them in the fields. What do you think Tsai?”

Tsai did not respond. He was curled in a fetal position on his bed, his breathing hissed and labored. 

Hoarse vocals were a telltale signifier of a walker, first and second wave alike. It was something that kept Yusuf awake nights on end- more than the pounding pressure in his head, the desperate scavenging in every area of his mind for just that right chemical combination to deliver a miracle- remembering their voices, laced with the distinctive rasp of death.

Might as well give them their privacy. Yusuf switched off the sound, swallowing down his pills.

_ He woke to the deafening sound of hissing coming from the monitors. Bloody machines. Yusuf could have sworn he’d turned the sound off… _

_ And dragging himself off his cot, found he indeed had. The hissing was coming from the hallway, his door was open.  _

_ Frowning, Yusuf stepped outside his room. All but two of the lights were off in the hallway but that was not unusual. They were flickering on-of-on. He walked in the direction he thought the hiss was coming from, shielding his eyes from the light. _

_ Into an open elevator and Yusuf must have dozed off there. Or something else. Either way when he came to again, he was in the cafeteria. Empty, save for Arthur, Haru and Tsai. Yusuf was seated at a table with Arthur, whose head was on the table itself rather than attached to the rest of his body in his seat.  _

_ He stared at him, looked down at the empty plate and silverware in front of them. Then startled when Tsai suddenly began shouting in Taiwanese and attacking Haru.  _

_ Arthur’s hand tapped the top of his head. He click his tongue then hissed. “Don’t be wasteful, finish your meal.” _

_ Yusuf stared down at his empty plate. “I don’t understand.” _

_ When Arthur’s right hand slapped the table top, several of the stitches around his wrists tore. Slowly they shifted into thin, wiggling maggots. One slithered down only to be crushed underneath his fingers when they tapped the table impatiently. “Would you just cut the damn thing already?”  _

_ Behind him Tsai stopped clawing at Haru’s face. It was mashed and chunked, like roughly handled clay. Tsai wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, smearing the running mascara and dragging his eyelashes off. “Your plate Yusuf.” _

_ Yusuf stared at the white porcelain for another moment before relenting, taking his fork and knife in hand. And amazingly the blade penetrated the dish as though it were soft butter but then he stopped, jerking his hands back as a flood of black ants emerged from the plate scattering about the table.  _

_ Arthur caught one when it crawled up his neck to his mouth. He chewed with a grimace before swallowing. “That really should have been worms.” _

_ Yusuf stood from the table, turning away as the ants began to climb up Arthur’s arms into the part of his neck still attached to his torso. _

_ “Don’t have the stomach for it yet?” What remained left of Haru’s face vibrated as he laughed. “Don’t worry, you will soon.” _

Yusuf didn’t even recognize his own voice as he awoke with a shout. For real this time, maybe, because there was something fuzzy and small licking at his face that had definitely not been in his room when he went to sleep. 

“Trouble sleeping?” Saito was reclining in his chair, as if he’d not came into a sleeping man’s room and just...waited for who bloody well knew how long.  As if he had not just scared the piss out of him.

Grunting, Yusuf gathered the kitten in his arms. She was a soft little brown ticked tabby with salt and pepper pattering on her face, green eyes, and nearly an adult cat now that he had a full look at her.  For a moment he almost asked Saito how long he’d been inside his room but decided not to. “You’ve an explanation for this?” He  motioned towards her.

Saito shrugged. “She’s been living in the bushes in the parking lot for weeks now, the children take turns bringing her food. No one has named her. I thought you might enjoy her company.”

And who indeed might have let Saito know Yusuf was missing the company of a feline? Who indeed.

“Her names’ Asra.” Yusuf declared, still petting her. 

Saito smiled, rising from his seat. “I’ll pass word of that along.” He said, and left without another word.

The whole exchange was...odd to say the least. Yusuf busied himself scratching behind Asra’s ears, thinking of potential antiviral chemical components he could configure if Mao’s hypothesis proved to be correct. For the time being, his nightmare was forgotten.


End file.
